Martin Memorial's nurses are integral to our mission to provide the very best healthcare to the community, delivered with pride, compassion and a caring spirit. Nursing is not only a profession, but a science of healing and an art of caring.

• Our nurses seek to achieve patient health through promoting therapeutic self-care, overcoming self-care deficits, and fostering and preserving the self-care abilities of the patient.
• Our nurses believe that caring is a moral ideal which is demonstrated by providing care that is not only physical, but supportive, protective, creative, spiritual and emotional.
• Our nurses believe that health is related to the unity and harmony of the mind, body and spirit, and through the nurse-patient relationship, the nurse can promote restoration of inner harmony.

Nurses are well-educated with specific nursing theories, practices backed by research, and knowledge shared from other disciplines. Nurses not only study healthcare practices, but science and humanities that help promote the health and well-being of each and every one of our patients.

Mission and Vision

The mission of Martin Memorial's Department of Nursing is to facilitate patient self-care, utilizing an interdisciplinary, holistic, research-based approach.

This mission aims to provide high-quality and professional nursing care, with emphasis on each patient’s individuality, and harmony among staff, physicians and our community.

The vision of the Department of Nursing is to utilize evidence-based practice to continually improve patient outcomes; and to enhance nursing autonomy and staff involvement in nursing decisions and shared governance.

This vision is achieved by promoting superior interdepartmental relations and respect through a caring attitude toward patients, physicians, and each other.

Achieving the Best Patient Care

Philosophies

Martin Memorial's nurses believe in these values to guide them in providing the very best patient care:

• We believe that nursing is a dynamic, interactive and scientific process based on a unique and ever-expanding body of knowledge.
• Nursing is both an art and a science, delivered by practitioners who, by virtue of education, research and experience, provide individualized, quality care in a caring, therapeutic atmosphere.
• Inherent in our delivery model is the expertise to address each individual’s physical, emotional, developmental, social, spiritual and cultural uniqueness, to support the highest degree of independence as possible.
• In collaboration with other members of the healthcare team, the nurse strives to maintain or restore individuals to their optimum level of wellness, or assure dignity in the dying process through an analytical, problem-solving process of assessment, planning, intervention and evaluation.
• We further believe that care extends beyond the individual to include members of the family, support system and community.
• Nursing has the autonomy to set nursing goals with the individual and his or her family, and to coordinate his or her comprehensive plan of care.
• Expected outcomes, patient and family education, and discharge planning are planned and coordinated to facilitate the patient’s optimal level of self-care, through an interdisciplinary, holistic and research-based approach.
• The nurse functions as an advocate and educator in preventive care and health maintenance for individuals, their family, support systems and the community.
• Our shared philosophy encompasses both clinical and ethical standards for which each nurse is accountable.

Guidelines

Martin Memorial's nurses are guided by a number of values, standards and guidelines to help promote excellent practices. Some of these include:

• Florida Nurse Practice Act
• American Nursing Association's (ANA) Code of Ethics for Nursing
• ANA Standards of Clinical Nursing Practice and Nursing’s Social Policy Statement
• ANA Scope and Standards of Practice for Nurse Administrators

Quality Improvement

Martin Memorial is always striving to improve patient care and staff performance. Therefore it has an Interdisciplinary Clinical Quality Council which brings together the various clinical staff who care for patients in order to continuously improve the entire process of patient care. Nursing is an important part of this quality patient care.

The quality council oversees nursing committees, performance improvement and quality outcomes of the nursing departments.

In its quest for excellent quality, the nursing department compares its processes and outcomes to internal and external standards, or benchmarks. These benchmarks include indicators such as patient fall rates, hospital acquired pressure ulcers and infections, patient satisfaction, nursing hours per patient day and staff satisfaction.

Martin Memorial also nurtures a blame-free reporting environment where opportunities for systems improvements are sought on a daily basis. Safety programs such as electronic medication records and barcode scanning are examples of quality improvements that have been made through our councils and teams.

Martin Memorial's Nursing Executive Team

	Karen Ripper RN, BSN, MBA, CNAA, ACHE Chief Nursing Officer, Vice President and Administrator, Martin Memorial Medical Center		Sherry Guffin BSN, RN, BC, MBA Assistant Vice President of Patient Services Martin Memorial Hospital South
	Val Ruby BSN, RN, MBA Assistant Vice President of Peri-Operative Services		Kathy Rowell MSN, RNC, ARNP Assistant Vice President of Maternal Child Services

How Nursing Decisions Are Made

Martin Memorial encourages our nurses to participate in decision-making about nursing practices. We call this shared governance. We have shared governance councils which are comprised of nurses who are in a unit together or work together in a particular area of patient care. They include staff nurses and leadership as well as staff in other related disciplines, such as patient care technicians. The councils make decisions about things such as evidence-based nursing practice, patient care, equipment and general staff issues.

Nurses may also choose to participate in decision-making at the division level by joining these nursing councils:

• Nursing Executive Council
• Nursing Interdisciplinary Clinical Quality Council
• Nursing Professional Practice Council
• Nursing Recruitment, Recognition, Retention Council
• Nursing Research Council
• Nursing Informatics Council

These councils meet monthly to make decisions; gather input from staff representatives; discuss quality improvement issues, survey data and other educational initiatives; do strategic planning; and communicate about the activities in each nursing unit.

Professional Development & Career Advancement

Martin Memorial encourages and supports our nurses to expand their nursing skills through our Clinical Advancement Program. Our nurses earn points and receive a monetary reward for participating in skill-improvement activities, such as:

• Unit activities
• Special projects
• Council memberships
• Performance improvement activities
• Community projects or fund raising
• Continued nursing education
• Membership and activities in nursing professional organizations
• Nursing research and publication

Martin Memorial provides support for advanced nursing education through:

• Tuition reimbursement
• Free continuing education and seminar offerings
• Nursing scholarships

Scholarship money is provided by the Martin Memorial Hospital Auxiliary, two endowments made by donors to the Martin Memorial Foundation, and Martin Memorial Medical Center.

Careers in Nursing at Martin Memorial

Learn more about why you should be a nurse at Martin Memorial.

Visit our careers page to search for jobs and apply online, learn about our excellent employee benefits, and more about careers at Martin Memorial.

Contact Us

Martin Memorial Health Systems
Department of Nursing
P.O. Box 9010
Stuart, FL 34995
(772) 223-5945, ext. 2112